Numerous free-flight toys have been proposed and marketed, such as propeller wheels, helicopter wheels and boomerangs Some of these toys are launched mechanically and others by hand. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,201,866 to Pickett discloses an aerial toy including a propeller having a hub portion in which an axially elongated bushing is secured. This bushing is designed to receive a screw for rotating the propeller, which is rotated by a downward movement of a handle grip until it hits a stop means causing inertial disengagement of the whirling propeller from the launcher. Launching an aerial toy of this type by hand-operated mechanical means has a number of disadvantages in that it is unnecessarily complicated, especially for children, is easily broken or damaged, and can be hazardous. There is a wide variety of boomerang toys which are launched by hand, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,729 to Block. Typically, the boomerang is hand-launched by the operator by holding the tip of the boomerang between the thumb and forefinger with an upward and outward arm-throwing movement. The flight path of the boomerang, which if executed properly returns the boomerang to the operator, is achieved solely by a hand-launch of an operator who must grip the device at one of the wing tips.
Another boomerang toy is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,431 to Callahan and includes a vertical hollow handle in which ballast may be placed to control the speed of descent of the device. The patent discloses that hand-launching is achieved by grasping one wing between the fingers and, upon retrieval, the device may be caught by the handle which remains stationary while the wings rotate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,132 discloses a wing toy for toy airplanes, particularly toy helicopters, in which two generally flat members, at least one of which has a curved profile portion, are joined together to provide a lift-imparting profile to the device.